15 Facts About Terra preta

Terra preta is a type of very dark, fertile anthropogenic soil found in the Amazon Basin.

Terra preta owes its characteristic black color to its weathered charcoal content, and was made by adding a mixture of charcoal, bone, broken pottery, compost and manure to the low fertility Amazonian soil.

Terra preta is characterized by the presence of low-temperature charcoal residues in high concentrations; of high quantities of tiny pottery shards; of organic matter such as plant residues, animal feces, fish and animal bones, and other material; and of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, zinc and manganese.

Fertile soils such as terra preta show high levels of microorganic activities and other specific characteristics within particular ecosystems.

Terra preta zones are generally surrounded by terra comum, or "common soil"; these are infertile soils, mainly acrisols, but ferr ls and arenosols.

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Terra preta is less prone to nutrient leaching because of its high concentration of charcoal, microbial life and organic matter.

Terra preta reported densely populated regions extending hundreds of kilometres along the river, suggesting population levels exceeding even those of today.

Terra preta soils are found mainly in the Brazilian Amazon, where Sombroek et al.

Terra preta exists in small plots averaging 20 hectares, but areas of almost 360 hectares have been reported.

Terra preta sites are known in the Llanos de Moxos of Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and French Guiana, and on the African continent in Benin, Liberia, and the South African savannas.

Terra preta has a carbon content ranging from high to very high in its A horizon, but without hydromorphic characteristics.

Chemical structure of charcoal in terra preta soils is characterized by poly-condensed aromatic groups that provide prolonged biological and chemical stability against microbial degradation; it provides, after partial oxidation, the highest nutrient retention.

Terra preta soils show higher quantities of nutrients, and a better retention of these nutrients, than surrounding infertile soils.

Synthetic terra preta is produced at the Sachamama Center for Biocultural Regeneration in High Amazon, Peru.

Synthetic terra preta process was developed by Alfons-Eduard Krieger to produce a high humus, nutrient-rich, water-adsorbing soil.